The present invention pertains to a measuring device for measuring components in and/or properties of crop material that is conveyed along a path and/or past the measuring device.
In the state of the art (DE 196 48 126 A), harvesting machines that are equipped with devices for measuring the crop throughput, moisture and mass or density are known. The surface moisture of the crop material is measured by an infrared sensor while the layer thickness and density, as well as the moisture of the crop, is measured by microwaves with wavelengths from 1m down to less than approximately 0.5 mm.
DE 32 32 746 C describes a harvesting machine, in particular a baler, a self-loading forage box or a combine equipped with a moisture sensor that is provided along the path traveled by the harvested crop as it passes through the machine.
However, not all parameters needed for the additional usage of the crop material are obtained by these measurements. Of interest for further processing would be, for instance, the protein and/or fat content, digestibility, caloric value, fiber length and content, and so on.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,708 proposes a system for the investigation of harvested crop. On a combine, a sample is taken at regular time intervals from the flow of the crop reaching the grain tank and is examined by means of an appropriate arrangement for its mass, moisture content and density. Other parameters of the crop such as protein, sugar and oil contents, and color can also be measured. The system limits the detection of values to discrete locations so that a yield ticket would contain a number of gaps.
The problem underlying the invention is seen in the fact that a yield ticket specific to a partial area of the parameters with the measurement system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,708 contains gaps. A laboratory analysis to produce a yield ticket is very costly due to the large number of samples required to be taken and analyzed in order to leave no gaps.
According to the present invention, a harvesting arrangement is equipped with a measuring system which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art systems.
An object of the invention is to provide a harvesting arrangement equipped with a measuring system which continuously samples crop as the crop travels through the arrangement, or as the arrangement passes over the crop, so as to obtain data from which organic and/or non-organic crop components may be determined.
A further object of the invention is to provide a crop harvesting arrangement equipped with a measuring system, that is used in lieu of or in addition to the measuring system defined in the preceding object, which continuously samples crop as it travels through the arrangement, or as the arrangement passes over the crop, so as to obtain data from which the content of solid matter such as raw fiber content, length of fiber, digestibility, the energy content of the harvested crop may be continuously obtained.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a harvesting arrangement equipped with a measuring device, as set forth in the previous objects, wherein the harvesting arrangement is also equipped with a geographical locating system so that the data can be correlated to specific areas of the field from which the crop was harvested.
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.